Zillow was recently forced to acquire a broker’s license in Arizona to continue operating Zillow Offers, their platform that facilitates direct homebuying and selling. This does not, however, mean that Zillow will begin hiring real estate agents.

The broker’s license was more of a courtesy than anything else because Zillow will continue to work with local third-party brokers to complete transactions on Zillow Offers. The license itself was more so a result of complying with demands from the Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE), which contacted Zillow when it first launched Zillow Offers in the state.

Key Takeaways

The Arizona Department of Real Estate required that Zillow get a broker’s license to continue operating Zillow Offers

Zillow Offers is a platform that facilitates direct homebuying and selling, but Zillow works with third party brokers to complete these transactions

Zillow’s Errol Samuelson confirmed that the company has no intentions of hiring agents like a traditional broker

Excerpt

Zillow is getting a broker’s license in Arizona, but it has no plans to begin hiring real estate agents anytime soon, and it will continue to rely on other brokerages to represent it as it wades further into homebuying and selling transactions, according to Errol Samuelson, the chief industry development officer at Zillow Group.

The Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE) contacted Zillow in April 2018 when it first launched Zillow Offers, the company’s direct-to-consumer homebuying and selling platform, in the state. The ADRE said that Zillow needed to be licensed as a broker in the state to operate the program, according to Samuelson. The agency administers broker’s licenses for two-year-periods.

“We came back to them and explained — and they understand — that we are not the broker of record when we do these deals,” Samuelson said. “We use local third-party brokerages to represent us when we buy, we use local third-party brokerages when we sell.”

Despite the explanation, ADRE said it felt it was necessary for Zillow to get the license, so the Seattle-based company complied, Samuelson said.

“It’s not going to change anything about the way we operate the Zillow Offers program,” Samuelson said. “We’re still going to keep using local agents and brokers representing us as the brokers of record. We’re still going to use our representatives to list our properties.”

“We’re not going to have Zillow employees listing properties, we’re not going to have Zillow employees representing buyers and sellers,” Samuelson added. “This is strictly about getting paperwork in place.”

“Zillow has had broker’s licenses off and on over the course of 11 years and it hasn’t really changed our perspective in that — we don’t have any plans to become a brokerage in the sense of representing buyers, representing sellers, having agents that list,” Samuelson said.